The Sindh High Court (SHC) directed the Sindh chief secretary on Friday to convene a proposed meeting today with all stakeholders including representatives of sugar mills associations, Sindh Chamber of Agriculture and Sindh Abadgar Board to finalise sugar price.
The division bench headed by Chief Justice Maqbool Baqar further instructed him to continue the deliberations until decision regarding fixation of the price is made and finalised. The court required the chief secretary to forward the summary thereof to Sindh chief minister for his consent by November 30.
The court had taken up a petition filed by the sugar millers, who moved the court seeking its directions for the federal and provincial government to devise a effective mechanism for fixation of sugar price and questioning legality of the provision of Sugar Factories Control Act, 1950, that gives the provincial government powers to unilaterally fix a minimum price of sugarcane.
Earlier on November 9, the court had directed the authorities to constitute a committee comprising all stakeholders to decide the fixation of prices.
On Friday, Abdul Hafeez Pirzada advocate, representing the petitioners, told the judges that deputy secretary agriculture, supply and prices department had addressed a letter to sugar mill owners association for the meeting. He requested the court to direct the provincial government to convene the meeting at the earliest so that decision for fixation of sugar price for the season could be made.
Earlier, the petitioners’ counsel had submitted that the provisions of the Sugar Factories Control Act, 1950 imposed the unreasonable restriction on the petitioners to sell sugar at a loss as government fixes the minimum price of sugarcane arbitrarily and in that respect there was no reasonable protection against the misuse of power and no provision for check by way of the appeal or otherwise.
He said the sugar mills’ owners were being forced to supply and sell refined sugar at below their own cost of output. The counsel pleaded to the court to restrain authorities from issuing the notification in respect of minimum price of sugarcane. The court was also requested to declare as unconstitutional the provision of Sugar Factories Control Act 1950, that gives the provincial government powers to unilaterally fix a minimum price of sugarcane.
